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The new year started with a new addition to our family
o. The day before, we had found a kitten that we instantly fell
in love with. Even Mike, who is not a cat person, did not offer a peep of
dissent at the question of adopting her the next day! She instantly won
all of our hearts with her funny antics. She makes it difficult to
concentrate and get through school, because we are all laughing so hard at her
running around the boat, pouncing on things, and generally being just too cute.
We were going to name her Izzy, but since we were in Zihuatanejo, Mike suggested
that we combine the two, hence, Izzihua, or Izzy for short. At the same
time, we were ready to leave Zihuatanejo and explore some more of Mexico.
The central coast of Mexico is beautiful. There are tons of bays and river
mouths for surfing and exploring. We had a lovely week slowly working our
way up the coast
o. For several days we were in the company of another kid boat
out at Isla Grande. We had several get-togethers and kid sleepovers.
Mike and Nancy got to do a couple of nice scuba dives, and then we headed
further up the coast to explore more surf spots with another boat
o. While we were exploring, we were also still doing school.
We completed another twenty lessons and got through another series of tests.
The kids are maintaining their grades so far... Fletcher consistently gets A's,
and Dana gets B's. We did an overnighter to get to our next big
destination and completed the testing and grading while underway. As soon
as we got to Barra, we went in to town to check email. There was a message
from that very day that Nancy's dad was not doing well and they were requesting
her to come help. What can you say? Plans were quickly made for her
to fly back to the states to see what she could do. At the same time,
there were some issues to deal with in California that had been hanging over us
since October. Our first morning in the anchorage was the morning of the
presidential inauguration in the United States, so we took the kids in to watch
it. It is the first one that they have watched and it was pretty exciting.
In the anchorage there were more kid boats that we had a great time meeting and
hanging out with. Dana had her first paid babysitting job and is
very good at it, and she is enjoying making money. One night all the kids
hung out on one boat, while all of the parents went out to dinner
o. It was very nice. A couple of days later, Nancy took
off in a taxi to get to the airport headed for California and Virginia
o. It was an exhausting three weeks in the states for Nancy,
but Mike and the kids continued to explore the coast and maintained the school
schedule. They mostly divided their time between Tenacatita and Barra.
Tenacatita is a beautiful bay with lots of saltwater activities
o. There is surfing, snorkeling, long swims in clean water,
long beach walks, kayaking, river trips, bon fires... Nancy was very jealous
that they were having so much fun without her!

PHOTO JOURNAL

Please click to enlarge!

Our new addition to the family, darling Izzihua (Izzy)! Izzy's first boat
ride in life jacket. Exploring the coast of Mexico, checking out surf
spots, bays and lagoons.

Inauguration 2009 at the Grand Bay Hotel, Barra de Navidad, Mexico. A fun,
grown-up dinner out (Nancy's new haircut). Nancy heads to the airport to
help with her dad back in the states.

While mom's away, the kids will play! Fun in Barra lagoon,
bon fires on the beach at Tenacatita, group river trips, Hopper dog, and fun
with the new kayak.